


Something to Believe In

by ophidianpoet



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Blood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 18:44:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12371775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ophidianpoet/pseuds/ophidianpoet
Summary: Speak to the moonWe just kept our demons in the basement





	Something to Believe In

Dipper couldn’t remember falling asleep, he merely woke up with his head on the desk in his dorm room, notes and newspaper clippings spread out around him like always. His laptop was still open with the tabs of his internet browser reflecting another late night of mostly-fruitless searching. He’d been searching for months now, investigating every little instance of the “paranormal” he could find. Everything he found turned out to be either explainable natural phenomena or outright hoaxes. Going to college had been a fine distraction, but even in high school he had never been able to fully adjust to a life without cryptids or ghosts or vague yet menacing government agencies causing chaos in the streets every week.

Getting up slowly from his uncomfortable slump, Dipper made his way over to the bathroom mirror. He surveyed his reflection; pale skin on a malnourished face, dark bags under his eyes...he’d definitely seen better days. The dorm was much quieter as fall semester had ended a few days ago, but Dipper’s roommate had moved out before that, citing “massive incompatibility” as their reason for leaving. He scoffed inwardly at the memory. Yes, he hadn’t been sleeping much these days, thus the glow from his computer was sometimes an issue at night...and yes, sometimes he would sneak antique books out of the library and involve them in certain activities involving circles of candles and chanting in dead languages, but this was college. Wasn’t college supposed to be kind of a weird environment anyway?   
“Weird...what a joke.” he muttered. Ever since leaving Gravity Falls that summer almost eight years ago, his life had done nothing but get less and less weird, and it was killing him. That summer had made him feel like he meant something. Running around and getting into trouble with Mabel had made him feel so fucking important, and he had expected the coming years of his life to continue the same way and they just...hadn’t.

Deciding to spend his day engaged in something, anything other than frustrated reminiscence, Dipper washed his face, got dressed, and reached for his phone and some earbuds. He’d take a walk around campus, listen to some podcasts for a little distraction. Or at least that was his plan; upon glancing at his phone, Dipper saw he had a voicemail from his sister. The blinking “new message” icon and accompanying caller ID brought a little involuntary smile to his face. He tapped “play”:

Dipper, hey! Long time no talk, huh? I miss you! Okay but there’s an even more important reason I called: we got an invite up north to the Mystery Shack! You know, THE Mystery Shack?! Apparently Soos has suuuuch a flair for PR, the place has one some kind of award for weird Americana attractions or something, I dunno, but we’re getting VIP passes for a sweet tour! Sounds like the place got a big overhaul, huh? Anyway, we’re getting flown up there next weekend...on Soos’ dime! Can you believe it?! Looks like the big guy really hit the big time! Anyway, I’m super excited, so stay hydrated, get some sleep, and call me back, okay? Byeeee!

He sighed, and immediately poured himself a glass of water from the sink, drinking it there and then. Setting the cup down, he jotted down a note in his phone to catch a nap later in the day if he felt tired. Of course his sister would know he’d been having a hard time taking care of himself. As they’d grown up, Mabel had developed an almost matronly sixth sense that honed in on her brother’s wellbeing, and Dipper was secretly grateful for it. He shuddered to think about the state his health and hygiene would be in if not for his sister. But more interestingly, what was all this about the Mystery Shack winning an award? And he and his sister were being flown up there for a tour? He felt a flutter of excitement in his belly. Dipper hadn’t been up north since the day they left. The flutter turned into a small pang of guilt. He and Mabel had tried to keep in touch with most of their friends from that summer, with varying degrees of success. Honestly hoping to not run into any of their childhood friends, Dipper tapped open his phone’s calendar app, making sure his schedule was clear for the trip.

The weekend of their flight soon arrived, and Dipper was delighted to see his sister after spending almost four semesters apart. Mabel had been doing great in art school, but she’d become so busy taking on projects in every medium she could get her hands on, that she’d been left with zero time to come up to Dipper’s campus for visits. She was the only person in the world Dipper could trust completely, and just being face to face with his sister started to alleviate some of the tension he’d been carrying around for months. 

Their flight passed uneventfully, as the best flights do, and soon the siblings found themselves in the familiar Northwestern climate, though the air was laced with crisp Autumn breezes they’d not yet experienced during their Summertime visits to the Falls. Mabel called them a Lyft driver to take them up to the Shack, and Dipper had to admit: the place looked better than it ever had. There was nothing growing on the roof (which was now one, even layer), no bird nests in the rafters, and the spot on the sign that just couldn’t hold an “S” had a bold “S” shape burned into the wood, in defiance of whatever cheeky forest sprite kept knocking the damn thing down. Outside the Shack, Soos greeted the twins wearing comically-large dollar-sign sunglasses, and proudly showed them up to where they’d be staying for the weekend: the newly-refinished attic where they’d slept so many summers ago. 

Soos started down the ladder, addressing Dipper and his sister, “Listen dudes, you just get comfy here uuh, I didn’t do any shoppin’! So I’m just gonna nip down to the grocer’s and get you kids something for dinner tonight. I’ll just leave it in the kitchen tonight, when I get back from this meeting that I have to leave for right now.”

“What, right now right now? No hang time first?” Mabel whined.

“Sorry M-dogg, business calls. And I gotta get up for an interview early tomorrow, so I gotta head straight to bed once I get home or else I’ll be, like, a zombieeee.” he replied, saying the last word with a comedic living-dead groan as he began making his way back down the attic ladder. “But hey, we got the whole rest of the weekend to pal around and let you guys see the new place, right?”

Mabel smiled and rolled her eyes. “I guess you’re right~” she said in a singsongy voice.

From floor, Soos called up to the twins “So get some sleep, ya hear? This means you, Pine Tree, haha!”

Dipper froze. Mabel casually looked over to see if her brother was okay, knowing that being forced out of his body once had had lasting psychological effects on him.

“I’m sorry….Soos? What did you just call me?” Dipper asked in a voice that was hesitant to admit what is was afraid of.

Soos gave him a slack-jawed look. “Pine Tree? Like, what that crazy triangle guy used to call you?” he said hesitantly, looking from twin to twin, suddenly concerned. “Is that a...not cool thing to say?”

Mabel opened her mouth to immediately reply, but Dipper waved a hand. “No no, don’t worry about it, man. It’s fine. Just caught me by surprise, that’s all.”

Soos relaxed and headed out of the shack, calling after himself “That’s a relief then, dude! See ya later!” The twins waved a bit, and out the attic window Dipper could have sworn he caught the lensflare-like glint of dwindling sunlight beaming off of Soos’ dollar-sign shades as he rode off in the golf cart.

“Did you ever talk to anybody? Y’know, about some of that stuff?” Mabel asked her brother. Dipper knew by “that stuff” Mabel meant his demon-related traumas. He sighed.

“No, I didn’t. Once we left Gravity Falls the last time, I couldn’t make myself look a therapist in the eye and talk about having had my body stolen from me by a triangular dream demon.” he said, only a tiny pinch of bitterness creeping into his voice. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

“That makes total sense, bro. I get it. What good would it do you to get institutionalized? I heard those places don’t even have hulu.” Mabel said with a grin. Dipper smiled, inhaling and exhaling slowly like his stress-management apps had taught him, to relax some more of the temporary tension away.

“You know what? I think I’m gonna go take a walk or something. Get some of this fresh, piney, Northernly air in me to clear my head out.” Dipper said, cracking his neck and stretching his shoulders. Mabel checked the fitbit around her wrist. “Ah! I hit my step goal for today, so I willllll….” Mabel trailed off, looking for something around the room she could do. “Put some fresh sheets on these beds!” she exclaimed, pointing to the bare mattresses. Dipper grabbed his phone and earbuds, heading down the attic ladder, smiling.

“Cool cool, have fun. I’ll be back in probably like, 15-20 minutes. If I see any of nature’s majesty I’ll be sure to grab a pic for ya. Especially any fat birds.” Dipper assured his sister as he left the Shack. He heard her dissolve into hysterical giggles and crow “THE FATTER THE BETTER! BRING ME THE BORBS! BWAHAHAAA!” Dipper hadn’t been expecting anyone to make a “borb” reference ever again, but according to his twitter feed that’s what had been circling around again. He headed into the woods at a slow pace, listening to a podcast about the history of human/demon deal-making in different magical practices and vaguely wondering how many cute “borb” sticker designs he’d be seeing on redbubble soon.

To his mild, but pleasant surprise, the walk was actually making him feel better. Maybe it was the aromatheraputic effects of all that pine, or maybe Dipper was feeling more secure having set his feet on this ground again. What happened that summer was real, and it happened right here. Dipper sighed.  
“But did it really?” he said aloud, quietly, to the empty twilit woods. Looking around, Dipper slowly realized he wasn’t quite sure where he was. He wasn’t too worried; he’d made sure his phone was charged before he left, and his reception so far had been excellent. However, it was starting to get a little dark, and Dipper didn’t have many super great memories of good things happening in these woods at night. He tapped his way into his Google Navigate app, found the proper direction to turn, and started walking determinedly back towards the Mystery Shack. 

He got a little too concerned with the speed of his departure, and as he power-walked through the forest (arms pumping, legs pounding forward, desperately trying to convince himself that he wasn’t getting more and more afraid), he tripped over something large and rough, skinning his knee in the process.  
“Ow, fuck, seriously?!” Dipper swore, inhaling sharply through his teeth and clutching his knee. His old jeans had ripped, the aged denim now decorated with a little of Dipper’s blood. He turned to give whatever had tripped him an angry kick, and paused. It was...a sculpture? A weirdly-shaped pyramid with an odd cap and oh god. Dipper felt sick. It had been a long time since Dipper Pines had been in these woods. He wasn’t afraid so much as he was unprepared to see an image of the demon that wasn’t from his notes. “What the hell...who MADE this?” he wondered aloud, walking slowly around the frozen image of Bill Cipher. Dipper suddenly felt something wet on his bloodied knee, and realized he was bleeding much too much for a minor scrape.

Looking at his now blood-soaked pant leg in horror, Dipper looked back at the statue. How is there not a speck of blood on that? He caught a flicker of movement around his knees and, getting a little woozy at this point, Dipper semi-unfocused his eyesight, like he’d learned to do in that “Seeing Auras” course he’d taken online. “OHMYGOD! FUCK! FUCK!” he screamed, desperately swatting at his knees with both hands. He blinked and the vision was gone, though he wasn’t sure he’d ever forget seeing that: the sudden appearance of Bill Cipher the demon, clawing and biting (with a very upsetting fanged mouth-eyeball) at Dipper’s knee would, lapping eagerly at the excess blood with several tongues that sprouted from between Bill’s pyramid-bricks.

Hands shaking, Dipper tried to tear a strip from his shirt and fashion a bandage, like he’d seen in some adventure movies, but he couldn’t manage to rip the material and so instead, he set himself awkwardly hobbling, one hand over his near-shredded knee, in the direction of the Mystery Shack. 

“Whoa, ok, make a hole, medic comin’ through!” shouted Mabel at the mostly-empty woods around the Shack as she watched her brother approach. She quickly got under him for support, helping him walk the last few yards to the Mystery Shack’s entrance. “Oh my god, Dipper, what happened out there? You fight that weird bear-mashup thing and lose?” she said, referring of course to the multibear from their childhood that Dipper had tried to forget was real. Dipper sighed, a bit lightheaded, and sat down in the bathroom Mabel had led him into while she washed and bandaged his knee. They passed Soos who had set up a cot in front of a sunny window and appeared to have fallen asleep with a clay mask on his face and cucumber slices over his eyes. Mabel decided she could let the big oaf sleep, he needed to look his best for whatever interviews and photoshoots he had coming up later in the day. Besides, she was almost in her 20s, and she knew where both the Stans had left the first aid supplies.

“I...tripped over this, um...this thing. Out there.” Dipper stammered. Mabel stared at him for a moment, expecting elaboration and receiving none.

“Did you maybe hit your head, too?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It was a statue of Bill.” Dipper blurted out, swallowing panic that had started to rise in the back of his throat. “Like someone poured concrete into a Bill-shaped mold. And that’s not all-, no, hang on Mabel, I need you to listen. I need someone to hear this.” his sister had opened her mouth in shock and was about to speak but Dipper cut her off, desperately needing to unburden himself. “It felt like I only skinned my knee, I wasn’t like, launched over it or anything. But...but I noticed it was bleeding really bad and...I saw him.” here Dipper’s voice became very small and quiet. “I saw him on me...licking blood off me.”

“Oh, gross.” Mabel said. “Well, other than having a knee that is just shy of needing about ten stitches, are you okay?” a sudden drop of suspicion tinted her next words, “Are you you?”

“Yes, I’m definitely me, Mabel. Look at my eyes.” he invited, and she did indeed look to find her brother’s eyes were not the glowing goat-eyes of a human body possessed by Bill. A thought starting itching in the back of Dipper’s brain, but it was too unformed, like the feeling of having forgotten “something”, but just what that “something” was was still undefinable. Dipper shrugged it off, taking the anti inflammatory pills Mabel offered him and hobbling his way out to the kitchen to make some coffee, or something else hot and comforting. He’d take hot chocolate if it were the only option, honestly.

Soos was at the sink, his back facing Dipper as he entered. Dipper heard the water running; apparently Soos had developed a dish-washing habit while the twins had been away, good for him. He thought of asking Soos if he’d seen that odd Bill sculpture, then stopped, feeling a cold spoonful of anxiety hit his stomach.  
Since they’d arrived up north, Dipper hadn’t seen Soos’ eyes once.

Slowing his breathing and putting it off as his general paranoia, Dipper cleared his throat. “Hey, uhh, Soos? Okay, haha, um. Weird question, could I see your eyes?”  
The water was running, Dipper realized, into an empty sink. Soos’ hands were at his sides, still. Dipper was starting to feel like he should maybe leave. “Soos? You okay? Can you show me your eyes real quick?”

“You show me yours, Pine Tree.”


End file.
